I am an experienced builder, I bought the Martin D41 kit because of a sale and paid a little more then 1/2 price. First you should know Martin will never sell its first quality parts, so what you get in the kit is the luck of the draw, and I pulled a deuce. The neck had a large knot at the 7th fret, the fret board had a crack at the nut end, the sides were loaded with (white) mineral deposits, impossible to mask, and the pearl for the sound hole did not match the purfling pearl. The instrument does sound excellent, but looks like a second so I can not and will not sell it. Warning to beginners: you will need an additional investment of 1000.00 + - worth of tool, jigs and finishing equipment to complete the kit correctly, and great woodworking skills. If you just want a guitar to play buy a built one.

I have built 2 of these guitars from Martin kits about 10-15 years ago. This is NOT something you can snap together and get a good guitar. You need several jigs and several pieces of equipment to put it together and finish it properly. If you are not an experienced woodworker, you are likely going to send it back, or do a bad job, or never finish it. The instruction manual included way back when I bought them was pretty minimal and from the picture, looks like the same one. With that said, with minimal equipment and a little time, you can have a GREAT guitar that is every bit as good as a Martin. If you are buying this to save money, FORGET IT. On the other hand, if you like working with your hands and want the pride of playing something you built, go for it. I am thinking about getting another one soon...

The good: It comes from Martin. The bad: It comes from Martin. Instructions: Almost useless. Save them for bridge placement measurements. Buy a good instrucion book - search for "Building Kit Acoustic Guitars". Quality: Martin saves their best wood (AAA) for production. I am told kits are basicly (A) grade. Mine had flaws in the neck and soundboard. Value: Probably the best value if you are skilled with wood. (besides, if this is your first guild, you will probably make a few mistakes, so why pay more to ruin Master quality wood. Overall: Not bad, not great.

Just wanted to say, this is not a kit for first time guitar makers or a person without complete access to a woodworking shop (preferably a temp. and humidity controlled shop.) I also want to mention that this project probably takes between 120 to 300 hours to complete. I am wood worker who has built four or five guitars, which really isn’t all that many. I just hate to see anyone send this much money on a guitar kit and then not be able to finish it

I have built several acoustic guitars from Martin kits, ranging from Jumbo to Dreadnaught to OM.

There is a considerable bit of woodworking involved, and of that woodworking a very large percentage is sanding - both the wood and the finish.

Prospective builders should note that the neck joint can be quite difficult to get right. Martin actually will sand the upper surface of their guitar bodies into a curve, and the neck block in the kit is aligned to this curvature. However, your kit does not have that curvature unless you put it there. Failure to align the neck properly can result in excessively high or low action.

Building from a kit can be very satisfying in that the guitar's tone can be remarkably good.

However, the details of the construction and finish are all in the hands of the builder.

Also note that the wood received should be considered "not fully first quality" in the sense that your neck may have some small knots or may be somewhat off-quartered, your soundboard may have uneven or wider grain, etc. I don't believe any of this affects the ultimate tone.